Books

Only When I Fall

Upmarket Fiction

Tris, a homeless heroin addict and one-time graffiti artist, struggles to survive on the streets of Boston. Yearning to escape this harsh reality, Tris immerses himself in his inner world of sketches and classical painting. But he can’t hide in his art forever. When Mia, his drug dealer and ex-girlfriend, secretly enters one of his paintings into an online art contest, the image goes viral, sparking a widespread search for a troubled loner with a singular gift.

But not everyone searching for Tris means him well. A posh art dealer with a trail of disappearing protégés, a social network moderator obsessed with the anonymous contest entry, and a groundskeeper required to evict the homeless are all closing in on the abandoned utility room under a Charles River bridge where Tris has been staying.

Unaware of the ripple effect his mysterious painting has had on the people who’ve seen it, Tris battles his addiction with the hopes of getting clean and reconciling with Mia, who fights to save the man she wishes she didn’t love. As the circle grows tighter, Tris must shake the pursuers on his heels and the heroin in his veins, or risk losing not only his life’s work and the person he loves, but the very life to which he clings.